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Normal Unit
Normal Units are one of the major concepts in Master of Magic. Normal Units are combat units that are created in a Town and will either garrison the town for protection or will be a part of a group that will be sent out to conquer new towns, guard newly created towns, or battle enemies they may Encounter. The type of Normal Units that are available to the player or an opponent will be determined by the Race chosen and the Town Buildings that have been completed in a given town. The features of a Normal Unit are influenced by the Race, the Normal Unit Archetype, the Town Buildings, the Retorts chosen, and potentially by Global Enchantments or even a Town Enchantment in the town where the unit is to be created. Information about a unit can be found by a unit's image in the game bringing up a window that summarizes a unit's primary attributes (see image). : This is a sortable directory of the game's Normal Units. : This is a compact table of all Normal Units based on Race and building requirements. Primary Attributes All Normal Units have certain properties that make them more or less desirable. These properties are their statistical usefulness or primary attributes. The properties that indicate how effective a unit will be are: iFigures, Melee Attack, Ranged Attack, To Hit, Defense, Resistance, Hit Points, and their Unit Abilities. Every unit begins with a specific number of which are important because all other statistics are expressed as the value for each figure. This number ranges from 1-8 and is considered for almost every action, a will perform 1 times the strength of the action, whereas a will perform the same action 8 times the strength shown. Units can continue to perform actions as long as there are Figures remaining. Any figures lost in battle will gradually be replaced after the battle as long as a single figure survived. The Melee Attack strength of a unit, expressed in the statistics window as individual swords, indicates the ability of a unit in hand-to-hand combat. The number of swords is the total amount of damage that each can do to an opponent, this is expressed here as , before other factors are considered. This attack can be enhanced by unit abilities, magic, minerals, and experience, for example. Melee attack strength is also used when defending, as the unit will normally respond to a melee attack with a counterattack. The ability to hit begins with a for every unit in the game. This property expresses the more likely damage inflicted in combat as a factor in all attacks, since most Normal Units begin with a their attack will be more likely to cause 30% of the damage indicated by the attack strength of the unit. If a Normal Unit has a Ranged Attack, it will have an additional attack strength expressed as either a , a , or a . This attack is also subject to the and except for the is affected by the distance between the two units. The Slingers' Ranged Attack is marked as being a . However, for all intents and purposes this is treated by the game as a . Defense is a unit property indicated by a row of near the top of a unit's details window. It signifies the unit's ability to block incoming Physical Damage, such as caused by most Melee Attacks, Ranged Attacks, and a variety of offensive spells. The unit's score is used whenever Physical Damage is applied to it. Each has a basic of blocking from hurting the unit. These odds may be increased or decreased by a few magical effects, but will otherwise be for almost all units. All Normal Units begin with at least . The Resistance of a Normal Unit is indicated by the number of , and all Normal Units begin with at least . Every level of resistance adds 10% to the chance of successfully resisting negative magic spells cast on the target. This level of resistance includes the ability to avoid the effects of some special abilities, such as Poison Touch, Stoning Touch, and Gaze Attacks. Hearts represent the number of Hit Points each figure has within a Normal Unit. A dies and is removed when it loses all of its . In the unit information display lost Hit Points are represented by darkened-hearts indicating . In addition, many Normal Units have Unit Abilities which may vary by Race, Normal Unit Archetype, or simply as a property of the Normal Unit. Unit Abilities are distinguishing properties of a unit, which differentiate it significantly from other units. Each ability gives the unit a different advantage. As a result, a unit's set of Abilities determines how that unit would perform in various situations, compared to other units. Finally, each Normal Unit display will include information that indicates the terrain that unit moves on best and just how many moves the unit can make per turn. All Normal Units have an Upkeep Cost that must be paid each month. This cost is 1/50th of the original base of the unit. Experience Normal Units gain Experience as long as they exist in the game or survive an Encounter, to a maximum of . The Experience given from an encounter is equal to for each unit defeated in a successful encounter, given to each unit from the winning side. As this Experience accumulates these units will gain Experience Levels which serve to enhance the Normal Unit's properties. When an Armsmaster Hero is in a stack with at least one Normal Unit at the start of any overland turn, each Normal Unit in that stack receives an extra amount of Experience points, on top of the +1 Experience that such units receive by default. The Armsmaster ability has two levels: "Basic" and "Super". A Hero possessing Basic Armsmaster gives out for each he/she has (including the first level). A Hero possessing Super Armsmaster gives per level instead. Experience Level Improvement The following table illustrates the cumulative progress of the primary attributes for Normal Units with each new . * To achieve this level, either the Warlord Retort or the Crusade spell must be in play. ** To achieve this level, both the Warlord Retort and the Crusade spell must be in play simultaneously. Each in a gains these bonuses. This includes creatures' unusual and , which are made by each separately before any exchanges in melee combat occur. Generally, then, weak units with many and low initial attributes (Spearmen, Bowmen, etc.) achieve the largest relative gains at new . such as the Golem or Dragon Turtle already boast very high attributes. They will only make large leaps in power at the Elite, Ultra-Elite, and Champion , where bonuses augment their inherently-strong by a fixed percentage. Indeed, the and gains made at the three highest levels make them profound steps for all units. They are the stages where bears fruit. To conceptualize these mechanics, take Orc Spearmen, one of the most wretched units in Master of Magic. They have double the staying power and four times the killing power as Elites than they began with as Recruits. At Elite the full unit has applying at accuracy— an average of that need to be blocked by enemy . Casualties will always be heavy among Spearmen, and counterattacks by high-tier units will usually wipe them out, but Elites will severely maim any units lacking the required to mitigate each attack. While such "burst damage" may humble an Elite Golem's swing and shame its Regular counterpart's , the demands of battle may of course favor a Golem of any level. A throws all its into a single attack so that have just that one chance to block. It also maneuvers, fights, and retaliates at its absolute fullest power to its last breath, which in the case of a fresh Golem's massive defenses, could mean many kills. Enchantments Normal Units may benefit greatly from Unit Enchantments, Global Enchantments, or even Town Enchantments. All Magic Realms have at least a few spells that will benefit the Normal Unit. One Town Enchantment has a direct influence on a Normal Unit's primary attributes, Altar of Battle creates a unit with making the unit immediately. There are some powerful Global Enchantments that will benefit a Normal Unit, most of them are Very Rare Spells. Some Global Enchantments will actually turn the Normal Unit into a different type of unit, and others will benefit the unit without changing its nature. Wind Mastery from the realm improves the movement of the player's Ships while decreasing the movement of all other ships. Herb Mastery from the realm will heal all friendly Normal Units completely every turn. The realm offers some very powerful Global Enchantments that benefit Normal Units; they are Crusade, Charm of Life, and Holy Arms. The benefit of Crusade is an additional above the normal levels, Charm of Life increases , and Holy Arms provides the same benefit to Normal Units as having the Alchemy (Retort). As Global Enchantments these benefits cannot be dispelled in battle. The majority of Unit Enchantments work to increase a unit's combat properties, or to give the unit a new ability it did not previously have. Some Unit Enchantments bestow some sort of protection or ability that may not be acquired in any other way. NOTE: Unit Curses are all Combat only spells. Stasis is an overland spell that behaves somewhat like a Unit Curse and is included in the table based on its effect. †: this spell '''only' works on Normal Units and Heroes'' Unit Curse is a Spell Type and category of spells in Master of Magic. A Unit Curse can only be used during combat, and must be targeted at an enemy unit. It will negatively affect the enemy unit in one way or another. Some Unit Curses reduce the target's combat properties, while others immobilize it or otherwise alter its behavior. In all cases, the target's performance suffers. Unit Curses continue to affect the target unit until the end of the battle, until dispelled by the enemy, or until the target unit dies. Rival wizards can get rid of an enemy's Unit Curses by casting Dispel Magic on a cursed unit, or a Disenchant Area spell on the unit's army stack. A Unit Curse cannot be canceled by its own caster. Almost all Unit Curses give their target a chance to Resist. This involves the target making a roll against its own Resistance score, usually at a penalty inflicted by the Unit Curse. If the target succeeds in its roll, the Unit Curse dissipates harmlessly, applying no effect and wasting its entire Casting Cost. As a result, units with high Resistance scores may be completely immune to some or all Unit Curses. Retorts There are 3 Retorts that affect most Normal Units created by the player or an opponent, but not the default units created at the start of the game. The Myrran retort allows the player to begin on the plane of Myrror and to choose one of the five races that normally reside on Myrror, or even locate one of the other races on the world of Myrror. The five Races that originate on the world of Myrror, and their Normal Units, are more powerful than the other races, but Myrror is also a more dangerous location. This choice has its advantages and its disadvantages. The Alchemy (Retort) affects Normal Units by giving them Magic Weapons when they are created. These units receive by default, instead of . give the unit a bonus when using its Melee Attack and allows the units to hurt enemies who possess Weapon Immunity. This retort is very valuable when choosing Gnolls, Klackons, Lizardmen, or Trolls as the player's Race because these Races cannot build the Alchemists' Guild. The Warlord retort is a strong and popular pick. This retort gives an immediate bonus of to existing Normal Units. Perhaps an even greater benefit is that this retort grants a Normal Unit an additional Experience Level above the Normal Levels, allowing the unit to gain additional stats. Race The choice of Race affects every Normal Unit created, and each unit will inherit any benefits or lack of benefits associated with that choice. Note that are not included in this table because of the numerous exceptions, but may be compared using the Comparative List of Normal Units Racial Units are special units that capitalize on a '''Race's' bonuses and abilities and are available only to a single Race.'' Archetype Many of the Normal Units available can be categorized into a Normal Unit Archetype. The Archetype of the Normal Unit will determine the baseline properties of the unit being created. Those properties will then be enhanced by any bonuses that might apply. Basic bullet point chart for archetypal units A hollow point ''□ indicates the existence of a racial unit with identical building requirements but points of distinction from the archetype. A colored point indicates that the unit for the race does not obey the rules above in at least one way: ■ for the better, ■ for the worse, ■ slightly for the worse, ■ discount but no Thrown or Fire Breath.'' Note that racial units with different building requirements and unit classes without any archetype units are not included in this table. Full chart of normal units can be found in Tech Tree of Normal Units. Town Buildings There are 27 Normal Units that are available as soon as a Town exists, Settlers and Spearmen do not require a specific building in order to be created, the Dwarves are the only race that does not have a Spearmen unit. Town Buildings first influence a Normal Unit by making the unit available in most cases. Secondly, Town Buildings may influence the stats of a Normal Unit by allowing it to be created with an advanced Experience Level, as if the unit had obtained enough Experience to achieve that advanced level, or other benefits. NOTE: This table only includes information as it relates to Normal Units. NOTE: Adamantium Ore is only available on Myrror. Strategy In general, the choices you make for your Wizard's picks and Race will dictate the strategy to use in each game. Most strategies will obviously work better with higher-level Units because of the improved primary attributes. Enemy wizards can and will cast Disenchant Area and/or Dispel Magic during battle to try and remove Unit Enchantments. The use of Spell Lock and/or Counter Magic is quite recommended. Flying Invisible Warships Flight allows the Warship to travel over land tiles. This allows stacks of Warships to go anywhere and strike anywhere, utilizing their superior naval strength in places where they could not normally go. Furthermore, it prevents most enemy units from engaging the Warships in melee combat, reducing risk to the ships. Invisibility is designed to totally confuse enemy armies. As long as the Warship keeps its distance from all enemy units on the battlefield, it is effectively invisible to them, and can simply pelt them with rocks for the entire duration of the battle without the enemy reacting in any way. A whole stack of Flying Invisible Warships is virtually unstoppable, and can win almost any battle on its own. This is only made possible because of the Warships' unlimited ammunition. The Warships do not need to expose themselves to combat damage or enemy spells since they do not ever need to do Melee combat. Enemy units cannot target Warships they can't see, and enemy wizards cannot cast offensive spells at targets that aren't there. In the meanwhile, the ships can continuously bombard the enemy without need for any fancy maneuvers. Multi Figure Units Enchantments and enhancements are applied to Normal Units on a per figure basis. This can give some units like the Slingers or Pikemen a greater advantage than might be recognized at first glance. For example, Slingers produced in a town located near Adamantium Ore will automatically have a +2 bonus to their attacks in addition to any level increased attack, or enchantments. Another very strong strategy involves a pick with Lionheart as the Rare Spell choice. For it may be cast on any friendly unit on the overland map to give that unit a significant +3 bonus to its Melee Attack strength, Ranged Attack strength, Resistance score and total Hit Points per figure. If the unit has a Thrown Attack it will receive to that attack's strength on top of the other bonuses. To keep an overland version of Lionheart in effect, an Upkeep Cost of per turn must be paid. Give any number of Racial Units this Unit Enchantment and they become instant monsters very early in the game. gain spectacular benefits from this spell - and the more figures, the better. This is very effective on units with , such as Slingers or Pikemen, but will work quite well on other units such as Berserkers, Paladins, or Elven Lords. Lionheart may be cast during combat for the rather high Casting Cost of . In this case, the spell will only affect the targeted unit until the end of the battle - at which point it will dissipate. First Strike Normal Units with the First Strike unit ability provide a strong advantage especially in the early-mid game. Four Cavalry units and four Racial Units have this unit ability. Besides being choice units to begin with, units with First Strike are good targets for a number of Combat enhancing spells -- especially spells that enhance Melee Attack. This ability allows the unit to make its Melee Attack before the target is allowed to counter with its own attack. One strategy is to use Berserk, an Uncommon spell that could be available to a Wizard with only 1 book, on a unit with First Strike to allow the unit to do the maximum damage before the defending unit has a chance to counter. The Berserk spell doubles the attack of the unit which in the early-mid game can be devastating, especially if the unit also has the Armor Piercing ability. Three of the Racial Units have First Strike and Armor Piercing, Paladins, Elven Lords, and Griffins. Caution should be used because the Berserk spell also reduces the defense of the unit to , but that will only be an issue if the First Strike Unit's target survives. Before flooding your ranks with First Strike units you should note the type of units the opposing Wizards are able to produce. There are five units that have an ability called Negate First Strike and this can affect the effectiveness of your First Strike units. Three Halberdiers and both Pikemen units have the Negate First Strike ability and a higher count. This doesn't nullify the Melee Attack of the First Strike units, just the advantage of having the ability by causing the Attacks to happen simultaneously (as normal). Regenerating Units A Normal Unit that has the capacity to regenerate its presents some strong strategies. Add to that the benefit of automatically being resurrected when your stack wins the battle and you have an even more compelling strategy. These benefits can be granted by the Regeneration (Spell), a Very Rare spell, or from the Racial Regeneration ability of Trolls. This saves you from the need to replace units after a battle, which can prove expensive and time consuming. Regenerating units make an especially good combination with Berserk, an Uncommon spell, as Regenerating units can execute devastating suicide attacks under the effect of Berserk without the concern of being lost. Another benefit is that this provides a Wizard using books a unique strategy because Regeneration is the only means of healing an Undead Unit. This allows the wizard to create the Undead units with their added immunities, and the undead Normal Units do not have an Upkeep Cost unless additional enchantments are used on those units. While most Troll units have natural Regeneration, the War Trolls are always prized units for their added strengths and make excellent targets for Berserk as well with their high score. Their main obstacle is often their high Upkeep Cost and using Black Channels to turn them into Undead Normal Units removes that downside. Category:Normal Units Category:Game Concepts Category:Units